Relationships between benthic macroinvertebrates and environmental variables of Nyamuhinga River, Lake Kivu southwest basin, Sud-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Autor: Baguma GB; Laboratoire de Physiologie Végétale Et de Microbiologie Appliquée, Département de Biologie, Faculté de Domaine de Sciences Et Technologie, Université Officielle de Bukavu, P.O. Box 570, Bukavu, Sud-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. gabrielbalagiz@gmail.com.; Laboratoire d'Hydrobiologie, d'Aquaculture Et de Gestion Des Ressources Naturelles, Département de Biologie, Domaine de Sciences Et Technologie, Université Officielle de Bukavu, P.O. Box 570, Bukavu, Sud-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. gabrielbalagiz@gmail.com., Bisimwa AM; Département de Biologie, Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles, CRSN-Lwiro, Section d'Hydrobiologie, Sud-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo., Munundu AM; Département de Biologie, Centre de Recherche en Hydrobiologie, CRH-Uvira, P.O. Box 73, Uvira, Sud-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo., Irenge EB; Laboratoire de Physiologie Végétale Et de Microbiologie Appliquée, Département de Biologie, Faculté de Domaine de Sciences Et Technologie, Université Officielle de Bukavu, P.O. Box 570, Bukavu, Sud-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo., Shabani IE; Département de Conservation Et Gestion Des Ressources Naturelles Renouvelables, Faculté Des Sciences Et Technologies, Université de Goma, P.O. Box 204, Goma, Nord-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo., Cubaka AK; Laboratoire de Physiologie Végétale Et de Microbiologie Appliquée, Département de Biologie, Faculté de Domaine de Sciences Et Technologie, Université Officielle de Bukavu, P.O. Box 570, Bukavu, Sud-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Environmental monitoring and assessment [Environ Monit Assess] 2024 Sep 10; Vol. 196 (10), pp. 917. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Sep 10.
DOI: 10.1007/s10661-024-13071-6
Abstrakt: Benthic macroinvertebrate abundance and taxa richness associated with environmental variables were monitored monthly from September 2015 to August 2016 in the Nyamuhinga River. The benthic macroinvertebrate samples were collected using a D-frame aquatic net employing the man-time method. Environmental variables including pH, temperature, conductivity, and total dissolved solids (TDS) were measured using a Combo HI 98129 and GREISIN-GER 020 multimeters, and water flow was assessed using the Float Method procedure. The Shannon-Wiener and equitability indices were then calculated to assess diversity and richness, facilitating the comparison of diversity within sites or stations. A total of 35,142 macroinvertebrate individuals were collected from the 12 sampling sites belonging to 29 genera, 27 families, and 9 orders. Diptera were the most abundant (71.83%) followed by Odonata (9.13%) and Ephemeroptera (7.11%). The findings showed that taxa richness decreased from upstream to downstream. At the same time, absolute abundance increased from downstream to upstream due to riparian vegetation, substrate type, plant debris, and organic matter which are habitats for benthic macroinvertebrates in the river. Environmental variables such as flow, pH, temperature, conductivity, and TDS varied between sites and stations because of habitat disturbances, contaminant discharges into the catchment, and inflow of tributary waters into the river. The canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) results displayed that Eristalis and Chironomus were strongly associated with the flow, conductivity, TDS, temperature, and pH at the downstream sites related to anthropogenic activities from the catchment. From our results, the Nyamuhinga River needs conservation master plan/guidelines and increased awareness to reduce environmental impacts in Bukavu River catchments in the Lake Kivu basin.
(© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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